Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita, III announced that 46 year old Gerald Wild, II of 177 Dan Troy Drive, Amherst, pleaded guilty, as charged, to Endangering the Welfare of a Child before Alden Village Justice Robert Woods. This is the highest charge for which Wild could have been convicted had he gone to trial.

Wild admitted that between December, 2011 and June, 2012, he sent numerous instant messages to a 16 year old student, which messages contained inappropriate discussions of a sexual nature. Wild was employed as a high school Social Studies teacher at Alden High School. As a condition of Wild’s plea, the District Attorney required Wild to surrender his teaching certificate to the New York State Education Department.

Special credit is given to Senior Det. James Hatch, Erie County Sheriff’s Department; Deputy Mark Bristow, Regional Computer Forensic Lab; Inv. Carol Weigand of the Erie County District Attorney’s Office and Deputy Shawn Young of the Erie County Sheriff’s Department.

Wild faces a maximum prison sentence of 1 year when he is sentenced on March 25, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. before Justice Woods.